The challenges imposed by the global market and the maintenance of profitable commercial quotas require, today more than ever, the adoption of sustainable cultivation techniques, also from an economic point of view, under penalty of exclusion from the most coveted commercial circuits. And in the traditional and semi-intensive systems of olive groves it is harvesting is the operation that increases the cost the most of production per liter of olive oil.
Mechanized collection systems not only allow the cost containment, but they become necessary by virtue of the contingent difficulty in finding labor in agriculture, as well as to satisfy reduced and anticipated collection times, to answer the new ones quality standards. To date, the most efficient construction sites for semi-intensive olive growing systems include thecoupled with a vibrating head to the reverse interceptor umbrella, driven by self-propelled machines, different drive units (e.g. tractors, skid steers, telehandlers) or carried on separate machines (see photo).
La pliers and umbrella combination is available in different configurations and options (e.g. diameter of the umbrella, swinging rods, opening and vibration frequency of the gripper) to adapt to the most specific company needs. Average data, taken from comparative collection tests, show how the use of mechanized solutions equipped with an interceptor umbrella can reduce the incidence of the cost of the operation up to 75% compared to the use of traditional olive harvesters and ground nets moved by operators.
Just as the process of modernizing oil plants is now irreversible, too the olive harvesting operations are inevitably destined to be mechanised which can on the one hand enhance and maintain high quality of the product and on the other hand contain the costs of the operation and, last but not least, improve the working conditions of the operators involved.
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